Newtz1981

I'm getting the track in place (not attaching it with glue yet) to see how it looks and how the curves flow. So far it's looking great! What do we all think?

Getting started slowly on the track for the pits. I've cut away the sleepers from one length of flex track just to see how it looks - and I think it looks fantastic! I'll cut the other two pieces today and get them ready for the arrival of the C&L order of chairs and fishplates. After these three sections of track are ready and in place I can start to lay the rest of the layout, as these ones are all straight pieces.

I'm debating over what to use to join the track together. Would it be best to use the regular rail joiners, or shall I go for brass fishplates from C&L instead?

I agree with you Steve. This method has been easy and simple and fairly rapid too with the use of a sharp knife to cut the pits out of the ply boards. I've been having a good read through your Cardiff Canton blog and have what you did with the track, which is exactly how I am going to do it too. I agree that removing the webbing from the Peco track does take quite some time to do, however the test piece of track I made up for my other layout proved to me that it is more than worth doing, to achieve a realistic finish. A question for you though - you mentioned you used sand that had been heated in a kiln? Is that correct? How does one go about getting that, or is there a substitute that could also be used? Regards, Jonathan

Hi David, I actually have a Scott, I just haven't put it on display yet. I also have a Jubilee too. As far as a Duchess goes, if I can afford it I will purchase a kit for one from Gladiator Models before they close in April. I have two of their kits already - one is a Stanier Mogul and the other is a Patriot. The tender of the Mogul has been started however construction is slow as a friend of mine is building it for me in his spare time. Kit building is not a skill of mine just yet. I have also put a reservation in with Fine Scale Brass (UK) for a Britannia and a 9F. They are due out around Dec '15/Jan '16, so I'm looking forward to them.

Today's work has involved cutting out the pit holes for the three roads of the shed. I retained the off cuts from the 3mm ply I used on the top of the base boards and I have used a sheet of this as the raised area around the pits. First of all the track was marked out on the raised sheet of ply. The location of the pits was marked out and then the pit holes were cut out with a sharp knife - which I must confess did take some time. Once the pit holes were cut out, the sheet of ply was placed on top of the boards and the pit holes were marked out there too. The pit holes were then cut from the base board tops in the same manner as the top sheet of ply. This technique was inspired by what I saw being carried out on Cardiff Canton. The sheet of ply was then placed on top of the base boards. They line up perfectly. You will see here in these two photos that the 3mm ply lines up perfectly with the sleeper height of Peco track. Again, this is inspired by Cardiff Canton. All I have to do now is glue down the ply to the base board and then wait for the C&L order to arrive so I can lay the rails over the pits. All other track was purchased today from my local hobby shop and I will make a start of laying it soon.

Thank you Steve. Yes, Canton has been an inspiration to me, as you will no doubt see as I progress with this model. Thank you for choosing to follow my posts.

I've drawn the track plan for the MPD onto the boards and I've positioned a few locos around to show what can fit where and how many in each road. This is going to be a cracking layout!! An overview of the shed entrance. 48773 comes On Shed. Two Black 5's are waiting in other roads for their next call of duty. The Black 5 on the left is numbered 44871 and the brass one will eventually become 45000. A Crab and a 2MT stand outside the shed entrance. The 2MT is destined to be numbered 46519. The plates have been acquired from Severn Mill, it's just a matter of painting them up and applying them to the loco.

I've just ordered fish plates and chairs from C&L and I'm guessing that given I live in Australia they will take at least two weeks to arrive. In the meantime more pieces of Peco flexitrack will be purchased and I will make a start on cutting out the loco pits. The C&L chairs will be laid on top of 3mm ply, which will also have the holes cut in it for the pits. 3mm ply matches sleeper height perfectly, after doing a small test today. I have a feeling that the track will be in place with a few weeks and ready for testing, then painting. This will be a great project!!

Today has been spent (between going out to the shops, working in the garden and doing things with the girlfriend) fixing the boards down on to the framework, printing out the track plan and attaching it to the boards ready to mark out. Photos below show the progress so far. The single road that is not connected to any others is actually at the front of the layout. I'm just building it from the operators point of view for the moment.

And here is the flavor and atmosphere that I am looking to create. A 1960s steam shed in the North of England.

Whilst I am building what has become known as my 'first' 7mm layout, I have a spare few boards at home which I've always said I would get around to doing something with. Well, recently I have been giving some thought to what I could do and the conclusion has been an MPD layout. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being that I have many main line locomotives and frankly, they will look out of place on the single line layout that is being built. I've always wanted to display my collection of locos and an MPD is the best way to do this. Inspiration has come through layouts such as Cardiff Canton, which really opened my eyes to showcase what is possible with 7mm and in such a small space. I have always been drawn to steam sheds too and I seem to constantly be on Google looking them up. In particular, the main ones are Rose Grove 10F and Newton Heath 9D - with some Lockstock Hall and Holbeck thrown in too. In fact you can probably work out now where the name of my MPD layout has come from - Newton Grove 19F. The last inspiration comes from working as a locomotive fireman on several preserved railways in Victoria, Australia and how the loco depots appear on them too. Clean, yet dirty at the same time with the right amount of clutter spread out across the yard, puddles and patches of oil and spilled coal. The space available is 9ft long by 18inches wide, spread over three boards. I've drawn up a few plans in RailModeller and have come up with one that I am happy with (see below). The boards are finished and ready to have the track plan drawn out on to them and then I can start to lay track. So I'm looking forward to seeing this layout come together, which I have a feeling might be sooner rather than later.